Lawsuits seek to compensate college athletes

FILE - In this April 3, 1995 photo, UCLA's Ed O'Bannon celebrates after his team won the championship NCAA game against Arkansas in Seattle. O'Bannon won a collegiate basketball's national championship ring as a member of the 1995 UCLA Bruins. Sonny Vaccaro signed Michael Jordan to his first sneaker deal and made millions as a shoe company executive in charge of endorsements. Together they are seeking to radically alter the NCAA's multibillion dollar business model by leading a legal challenge that seeks a significant revenue share for amateur athletes who receive nothing but scholarships even when their images are used to sell video games, DVDs and other memorabilia. (AP Photo/Eric Draper)
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FILE - In this April 3, 1995 photo, UCLA's Ed O'Bannon celebrates after his team won the championship NCAA game against Arkansas in Seattle. O'Bannon won a collegiate basketball's national championship ring as a member of the 1995 UCLA Bruins. Sonny Vaccaro signed Michael Jordan to his first sneaker deal and made millions as a shoe company executive in charge of endorsements. Together they are seeking to radically alter the NCAA's multibillion dollar business model by leading a legal challenge that seeks a significant revenue share for amateur athletes who receive nothing but scholarships even when their images are used to sell video games, DVDs and other memorabilia. (AP Photo/Eric Draper)
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SAN FRANCISCO 
Basketball star Ed O'Bannon and quarterback Sam Keller each earned most valuable player awards during their collegiate careers.

Now, years after playing their final games, they are pursuing what they consider a more significant collegiate legacy. They are attempting through federal lawsuits to force the NCAA to share its annual revenues with student-athletes.

"There are millions and millions of dollars being made off the sweat and grind of the student athlete," O'Bannon said. "Student athletes see none of that other than their education."

O'Bannon's lawsuit seeks a share of the money the NCAA earns from licensing former players' images in commercials, DVDs, video games and elsewhere. Keller's claims are narrower and focused on the NCAA's deal with Electronic Arts Inc., which makes basketball and football video games based on college players' images.

They are making headway in court, racking up preliminary victories that have advanced their cause further than previous legal challenges to the NCAA.

The debate over compensating college players is almost as old as the NCAA, founded in 1906. Amateurs have long-been expected to compete for free and the love of sport - or at least the cost of a scholarship.

But the NCAA's revenues have skyrocketed in recent years - it recently signed a $10.8 billion, 14-year television deal for basketball - and so have the demands of athletes to share in the money.

For its part, the NCAA is steadfast in its position that student-athletes are prohibited from receiving payment for participating in sports. It also says it has done nothing wrong in marketing itself for the benefit of its member schools and will continue to vigorously contest the lawsuits.

A judge earlier this year refused the NCAA's request to toss out the eight lawsuits filed across the country by former student-athletes. They are now consolidated into a single federal action in San Francisco. The former collegiate athletes accuse the NCAA of antitrust violations, alleging they are prevented from marketing their images because the NCAA locked up their commercial rights forever during their college days.

O'Bannon alleges that an NCAA monopoly is enforced with one particular form it requires every athlete to sign before they can play. He says the form grants the NCAA exclusive commercial rights forever.

The NCAA says the form merely give it permission to "promote NCAA events, activities or programs."

In a court filing, the NCAA said the form has little to do with commercial rights.

"It says nothing about the use of student-athlete images by member institutions, nothing about video games, and absolutely nothing about the right of a former student-athlete to sell his own collegiate image after graduation," the court filing stated.

U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken said the lawsuits, at first glance, appeared to show the NCAA's "conduct constitutes an unreasonable restraint of trade."

Legal analysts said that ruling will compel the NCAA to turn over many of its business secrets to the players' lawyers. No previous lawsuit has advanced to this stage, said Vermont Law School professor Michael McCann, who specializes in sports law. He said even if the players ultimately lose their cases the documents could add further fuel to the debate over compensating student athletes.